Thursday, January 9, 2014

August Osage County

The
first time we see Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) she’s drugged out (since getting
diagnosed with mouth cancer and going through treatment she’s gotten hooked on
a variety of pills) with skin as pale as a ghost. Her hair is short and thin
like it’s about to fall out (as we later see she usually wears a wig) and she
stumbles down the stairs of her Oklahoma house shouting and slurring. She then
barges into her husband Beverly’s (Sam Shepard) office, while he’s interviewing
the future housekeeper Johnna (Misty Upham) and proceeds to embarrass herself
and them. Yelling at him and knocking books off his shelf. She’s a hot mess for
sure, but a compelling one. And so begins the fascinating madness that is
“August Osage County,”—directed by John Wells—a wildly entertaining and dour
drama about a family in serious crisis.

Based
on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tracy Letts (who also wrote the
screenplay), the action and the development of the characters in “August Osage
County” are driven forward by sharp, fiery dialogue Violet and the rest of her
dysfunctional family viciously throw at one another. Not long after that
opening scene Beverly walks out on Violet (I can’t imagine why, she’s such a
pleasant person) and ends up committing suicide.

Each
family member comes to the reunion with deeply buried secrets or grudges
against other family members and to say that the movie contains a lot of
feuding and bickering would be a massive understatement. Just about every
conversation eventually turns into a heated back and forth; sometimes they’re
funny, sometimes shocking and revealing information is offered up to the group
and then picked apart like an animal carcass. Whatever’s said though, or rather
yelled, I was never bored during any of it.

And
while the structure of the film may appear disorganized, you can clearly see a
method to the madness. Each argument starts off relatively calm and then
gradually, as more bitter words are exchanged (there’s a load of f-bombs), the
tension builds, like a rubber band expanding and expanding until it finally
snaps. And then the argument keeps going on for another five or so minutes. No
family member exits the scene mid feuding because of hurt feelings; in the
Westin family an argument is carried through until the bitter end.

Most
of the arguments are instigated by Violet (not surprisingly) but it’s not as if
the rest of the family are angels; The Westin family is a hurricane, with
Violet as the eye. She criticizes, picks and provokes, and her bigotry doesn’t
help the situation either. When she isn’t outright scathing she’s sad and
pathetic. At the same time, she comes off incredibly confident. Not worried
about what other people say or think about her she simply says what’s on her
mind and always has a comeback to an insult lobbed at her. Streep gives yet
another masterful performance and even if some of the time you detest Violet,
you can’t keep your eyes off her.

Although,
it should be said that Roberts comes awfully close to equaling her. She’s also
tough and confident, never afraid to say what she thinks about Violet or anyone
else.Out of all three of the daughters
she resembles her mother the most (Ivy is shy and not as confrontational, while
Karen is a bit of a ditz), not just by holding her ground with Violet but also
by instigating some of the arguments and causing drama herself. The rest of the
actors all do their part in the support department but “August Osage County”
belongs to Roberts and Streep, both delivering Oscar worthy performances.

I
realize that the constant arguing may get to be too repetitive and exhausting
for some, and others may find the movie to be too sad but there’s also a raw,
emotional honesty being shown on screen. The Weston family may be mean but
also—most of the time-- they’re honest with each other, nothing is sugar
coated, no feeling is kept internalized for long. They argue and argue because
that’s the only way they know how to communicate with one another. That’s how
they’ve probably done in the past and that’s how they’ll do it in the future.
It’s hopeless to think that this family travesty will bring them together in a
warm embracing family hug.

Thankfully
“August Osage County” never sinks into sentimentality (which, in a movie like
this is very easy), the resolution doesn’t wrap
up neatly and easily, which won’t go over well with certain general audience
members. Even so, the movie never loses sight of itself; it proudly and loudly
embraces its aggressive, turbulent ways.